The present invention relates generally to integrated circuit designs, and more particularly, to methods for implementing redundancy for electrical fuses.
Electrical fuses are designed to blow when a current through the fuses exceeds a threshold. Since the state of a blown fuse is practically irreversible, it may provide the function of nonvolatile data storages. Proper implementation of electrical fuses can provide more design flexibility, such as positioning the fuse within the chip, since wirings are allowed on metal layers above and below the fuses. The positioning advantage allows electrical fuses to be a desirable component in high-density memory devices.
However, some electrical fuses can be defective. Because of these defects, the electrical fuses are often programmed incorrectly. When these fuses are programmed incorrectly in digital circuits, faulty bits will exist. In a conventional fuse array, these faulty bits are often ignored since the capacity of a conventional fuse array is very limited, often in the range of tens to thousands of bits. This low capacity can provide a high yield without the need to repair any of the faulty bits.
However, as integrated circuit (IC) technologies continue to shrink in physical size, electrical fuses can be fabricated in very small size such that the dimension is small and the capacity of electrical fuses can be high. As capacity increases in newer process technology such as 0.13 um and beyond, the density of defects will increase and may result in a lower yield.
Therefore, desirable in the art of fuse designs are additional methods that, by introducing redundant electrical fuses, the yield of a semiconductor manufacturing process may be improved.